Auburn Tigers guard Bryce Brown (2) celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer and drawing a foul for a 4 point play during the NCAA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Auburn, Ala. Albert Cesare

Men's NCAA Basketball: Auburn vs. Alabama

Auburn Tigers guard Bryce Brown (2) celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer and drawing a foul for a 4 point play during the NCAA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Auburn, Ala.
Albert Cesare

AUBURN — On Jan. 27, after Chuma Okeke broke out for 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and three rebounds in 95-70 rout of LSU, Bruce Pearl referred to his true freshman power forward as a “big bear.”

"I am not calling him a teddy bear, because he is tough. He is tough enough. He has a lot to his game. He has a lot to his ability," the head coach continued. "You give (strength and conditioning coach Damon Davis) an offseason with Chuma, you are going to see a grizzly bear. You don’t see a grizzly bear right now. You might just see a little brown bear.”

Okeke had that offseason with Davis. Pearl said he made a lot of progress with his 6-foot-8, 230-pound frame. And when his sophomore season begins with an exhibition against Lincoln Memorial on Friday, the head coach expects his starting power forward to be that grizzly bear.

“I feel like he wants me to be more of a playmaker and just to be more aggressive overall. Not to be as passive, but just to be more aggressive,” Okeke said.

“I feel like when I start to assert myself on the court, that will just open up the court more. That will give other teammates opportunities to do more, for real. Like Bryce (Brown) and Jared (Harper), they're very aggressive, and they open up the court a lot, because the defense has to focus so much on them. I just feel like I could open the court up even more, too.”

Okeke wasn’t asked to be that player as a freshman. Auburn didn’t need him to be. The offense ran through Brown, Harper and Mustapha Heron. Okeke played 21.6 minutes behind starting power forward Desean Murray and averaged 7.5 points on 45.8-percent shooting (39.1 percent from 3) and 5.8 rebounds per game.

It wasn’t until starting center Anfernee McLemore went down with a season-ending ankle injury on Feb. 17 that Okeke began consistently playing more than 20 minutes per game. The freshman nearly double-doubled in three straight games — 11 points, nine rebounds against South Carolina; 16 points, 10 rebounds against Alabama, 12 points, 10 rebounds against Florida — but faded down the stretch, making only 7 of 23 shots (30.4 percent) over the final five games of the season.

“One of the reasons why Chuma isn’t as aggressive as I’d like him to be, or even our team would like him to be, is that he’s on the floor with four other guys who are trying to be aggressive, because they’re either older or also good players,” Pearl said. “Chuma is a very unselfish player.”

Auburn forward Chuma Okeke (4) shoots against Clemson during the the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena, on March 18, 2018, in San Diego, Calif.(Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)

The Tigers would like to see him become a little more selfish in Year 2, though. Heron, the team’s leading scorer at 16.4 points per game, transferred to St. John’s after last season. Murray, who averaged 10.1 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds in 23.9 minutes per game, transferred to Western Kentucky.

Okeke is in line to start at power forward as a sophomore, and the Tigers appear likely to open the season with just seven available scholarship players in the rotation — injured center Austin Wiley (foot) and guard Samir Doughty (ankle) are expected to miss at least a few games, and forward Danjel Purifoy isn’t eligible to return to action until Dec. 15 against UAB.

The offense will still run through second-team All-SEC guards Brown and Harper after they averaged 15.9 and 13.2 points per game last season, respectively, but Okeke — whose 7.5 points ranked fifth on the team last season despite his role as a reserve — could be looked to as a third scoring option in early season contests against South Alabama and Washington.

Auburn forward Chuma Okeke (5) grabs a pass to the basket and drops in two against South Alabama on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Auburn, Ala.(Photo: AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

“I think Chuma, just playing a different role last year — he came off the bench last year as a freshman,” Harper said. “Now he’s a sophomore, and I think just this year, he’s going to be a lot better than he was last year.”

Earlier this preseason, Pearl posed the question to his team: “Who here thinks Chuma should be a little bit more aggressive?”

Everybody said, “I do.”

“OK, great,” Pearl continued. “So which one of you are going to do less so he can do more? Crickets. And a couple guys stepped up and said, ‘Coach, I’ll do less.’”